The Code Book
June 8th, 2003 by adminA fascinating history of codes, encryption and their influence on war, culture and history. Sounds boring but if you were like me when you were younger, you spent half your time making up new “languages”, encoding secret notes to your siblings, and hiding things around the house. For people like me this sort of stuff is just way cool.
The stories in this book are diverse, ranging from ancient egyptians (I think) to quantum cryptography. It’s fun and really kind of cool once you start seeing the larger picture; that for every code there is someone who is trying to break it. That and a number of other underlying things could be taken seriously and contemplated for hours. But really the book is just a good read. The writing is smooth and entertaining. I bought the hardcover at Emeral City Books in Eugene and basically didn’t put it down until I was done.
